


On Psi Corps Arranged Marriages (Part 3)

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [112]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Backstory, Canon Compliant, Essays, Fix-It, Gen, How canon misled you, Psi Corps, Telepath culture, Worldbuilding, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 11:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14544210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: The third part of a comprehensive essay on marriage in the Corps.This time, the early history.The prologue ofBehind the Glovesishere- please read!





	On Psi Corps Arranged Marriages (Part 3)

**Author's Note:**

> What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? See [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10184558/chapters/22620590).
> 
> If you like _Behind the Gloves_ and would like to send me an email, I can be reached at counterintuitive at protonmail dot com. Do you have questions? Would you like to tell me what you like about this project? Email me!
> 
> I also have an [ask blog](https://behind-the-gloves.tumblr.com/), a [writing blog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pallasite-writes), and a "P3 life" Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/p3-life) with funny anecdotes. :)

Part 1 is [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14408412). Summary of Part 1: Arranged marriages in the Corps are not what you think, are not as common as you think, always involve consenting adults, and no one is _forced_ to marry or breed.

Part 2 is [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14539404). Summary of Part 2: Policies of genetic matching in the Corps were developed, in a "big picture" sense, to help protect Earth from future Shadow invasion. Most telepaths don't know about this, however, and so to them, these practices exist as part of a century of tradition, culture, and values.

\-----

The origins of arranged marriage in the Corps are a little unclear. Dark Genesis mentions on p. 117-118 that Lyta's great-grandmother, Shell Alexander, had an arranged marriage.

          Shell Alexander flashed him a smile as he entered the room. She was placing his suits in a hanging bag. As with Kevin, he was stunned by a moment of déja vu. It could have been Blood standing there.

          But Shell was not Blood, and on second glance didn't even look much like her. Her thick tresses were brown rather than midnight, her skin pale. Her eyebrows flirted with being red, and her chin was longer and narrower than her grandmother's, tapered. No, Shell resembled Blood in much less tangible ways. The set of her stance, the flicker in her eyes, the way her hands moved. Like many in the "kith" of the Authority, she had kept her grandmother's name, as well. Mitochondrial descent, they called it.

          "Hi, Uncle Lee."

          "Afternoon, Shell. I'm sorry to have to ruin your day like this. I know it's goin' to be a terrible thing to have to see your fiancé back in Geneva."

          She shrugged. "He's okay. They certainly could have picked someone worse for me to marry."

          "I thought you fancied him. Michelle, just say the words, and I'll-"

          "Hush, Uncle Lee. No. I don't want special treatment. My grandmother wouldn't have wanted that, nor my mother. I'm her daughter, and I'll set a good example."

          Lee patted her shoulder. "You're a fine woman, Shell. A credit to your mother and her mother. You should be proud to bear their name." 

          "I am," Shell replied. "Now. Do you want all of these suits, or just-"

          She was cut off by an inarticulate yell from below. For an instant, Lee felt his blood freeze. There hadn't been an attempt on his life in years, but-

          "No, it's okay," Shell said. "It's just Kevin. He's excited about something. I can't..." She trailed off as Kevin burst into view. He was grinning like a cat, something Kevin rarely did.

          "Senator, you better get downstairs. You aren't going to believe it. You really aren't."

Then the Centauri show up, and that's the last we hear about Shell Alexander, her marriage, or arranged marriages in this time period.

Shell Alexander is supposedly a very "elite" telepath in the MRA, given her lineage. But she seems like not more than a domestic servant to old "uncle" Southern Lee Crawford - bringing him his dry cleaning, and consenting to a marriage to a man who "could be worse" because she doesn't want any "special treatment." And her attitude is presented as a "good example" for other telepaths - agreeing to marry someone she doesn't love in order to set a "good example" to other telepaths. (Since this is the only example of an arranged marriage in this time period, we have to guess how much freedom other telepaths in the Authority had to get out of arranged marriages. Even though Crawford is offering her a chance out with no fuss, she refuses his offer, because she feels it would set a bad example for other telepaths if she took advantage of her (relative) privilege as pet teep to Crawford to get easily out of an arrangement it may be more difficult for others to get out of. Even if others could also get out of bad arrangements, the Authority is trying to push that these arrangements are "proper" behavior for telepaths, so if she broke it off, just because she wasn't deeply in love with the guy, it would send the "wrong" message in the Authority (predecessor to the Corps).)

Since this scene takes place before Vacit takes over as director (this clip happens shortly before the Corps was formed), the arranged marriages have nothing to do with Vorlons and Shadows. They're not explained. Why do arranged marriages exist at all for telepaths in this time period, even if the practice is still relatively uncommon (as Vacit says later)? Was this part of Crawford's larger plan to control telepaths and make them into a subservient caste? Probably. Hence Shell's duties as one of Crawford's personal telepaths... to bring him his dry cleaning. And we also see this attitude in her choice to uphold the appearance of Crawford's policies being "good" for telepaths over her own personal happiness in a marriage. ("They certainly could have picked someone worse for me to marry.")

I take from this scene that the arranged marriages, like so many other later Corps policies, actually began as just another way for normals to control telepaths. (Not for telepaths to "oppress each other.") Telepaths subverted it, and made it work for them.


End file.
